Alwyn H. Gentry, Ph.D.

Research

Project Details

At the time of his last report to the Pew Fellows Program, Gentry wrote that he had devoted a large amount of time to completing his Field Guide to Woody Plants of Northwest South America. He also used his fellowship to document diversity and floristic patterns of tropical forests around the world using the same methodology that he systematized as a botanist for the Conservation International Rapid Assessment Team. In addition, Gentry supported students and student training activities, including teaching botany courses and speaking at various institutions on tropical deforestation and alternatives. He had addressed universities, non-profit organizations and governments, thereby fulfilling his goal to disseminate information on tropical forests to a broad range of stakeholders.

Biography

Alwyn Gentry was an expert on tropical flora and his knowledge of woody plants was regarded as unsurpassed. From 1967 to 1993, Gentry made more than 86 field expeditions to a total of 35 tropical countries, gave more than 68 invitational lectures at national and international symposia and conferences, taught numerous courses and workshops, supervised the thesis research of 20 students, published more than 208 books and articles and collected more than 70,000 plant specimens. He finished his 895-page A Field Guide to Woody Plants of Northwest South America in February of 1993.

On August 3, 1993, Al Gentry tragically perished along with four other conservation scientists in a plane crash in Ecuador while conducting fieldwork as a member of Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program.

CV

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Washington University
1972: Biology, Missouri, USA

Master of Science, University of Wisconsin
1969: Botany, Wisconsin, USA

Bachelor of Science, Kansas State University
1967: Botany/Zoology, Kansas, USA

Bachelor of Arts, Kansas State University
1967: Physical Science, Kansas, USA

KEY LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

Association for Tropical Biology
1989-1990: Councilor

Rainforests for Life Society
Board of Directors

St. Louis Rainforest Alliance
Board of Directors

Waimea Arboretum
Board of Directors

Association for Tropical Biology
1987: Program Chair

KEY AWARDS & HONORS

Marine Fellow
1991: Pew Fellows Program in Conservation and the Environment

Distinguished Service Award
1990: Society for Conservation Biology

Fellow
Linnean Society of London

Honorary Member
Sociedade Botanico de Brasil

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

• Gentry, A.H., A. G. Forsyth. 1998. A Field Guide to the Families and Genera of Woody Plants of Northwest South America : (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) : With Supplementary Notes (paperback). Conservation International, Washington, DC
• Gentry, A.H., A. G. Forsyth, R. Vasquez (Illustrator),. 1996. A Field Guide to the Families and Genera of Woody Plants of Northwest South America : (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) : With Supplementary Notes on Herbaceo. University of Chicago Press Hardcover
• Gentry, A.H., A. G. Forsyth. 1993. A Field Guide to the Families and Genera of Woody Plants of Northwest South America : (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru). Conservation International, Washington, DC
• Gentry, A.H. 1992. A synopsis of Bignoniaceae ethnobotany and economic botany. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 21(3): 266-270
• Gentry, A.H. 1992. Exarata (Bignoniaceae), a new genus from the Choco region of Ecuador and Columbia. Systematic Botany 17(3): 503
• Gentry, A.H. 1992. Six new species of Bignoniaceae from upper Amazonia. Novon 2(2): 159
• Gentry, A.H. 1992. Tropical forest biodiversity: Distributional pattern and their conservational significance. Oikos 63(1): 19
• Gentry, A.H. and R. Ortiz. 1992. A new species of Aptandra (Olacacea) from Amazonian Peru. Novon 2(2): 153
• Dodson, C.H. and A.H. Gentry. 1991. Biological extinction in western Ecuador. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 78(2): 273
• Faber-Langendoen, D. and A.H. Gentry. 1991. The structure and diversity of rain forests at Bajo Calima, Choco region, western Columbia. Biotropica 23(1): 2
• Gentry, A.H. 1990. Four Neotropical Rainforests. Yale University Press, Branford. (627 pp)